Welded hopper gate outlet frame



June 17, 1969 w. L. FLOEHR ET AL 3,450,064

WELDED HOPPER GATE OUTLET FRAME Filed.Jul .12. 1967 Sheet 1 of2 Inventors:

James D. Hipp Ronald W. May mm their Attorney /2 Walter L. Floehr June 17 1 I 969 w. I FLOEHR ET AL 3,450,064

WELDED HOPPER GATE OUTLET FRAME Sheet 5 of2 Fided July 12, 1967 FIG. 3

United States Patent O US. Cl. 105-282 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A welded frame for a slide gate of a railway car hopper having load-supporting sides each formed of a pair of members so shaped and welded together as to produce between them a reinforcing tube extending along the wall for increasing its strength-to-weight ratio.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The capacities now demanded in railway hopper cars have now reached the point where body weight has become a critical factor in holding the wheel loadings within limits acceptable on most main line trackage. It is to this problem with reference to a frame of a hopper slide gate assembly that the present invention is primarily directed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has as its primary object the provision of an improved welded frame for a hopper slide gate having sides so constructed and arranged as to reduce its weight without loss in strength.

In the preferred frame each load-supporting side at the frames sides and rear has an upper element fixed to a corresponding sheet of the hopper and a lower element having an upstanding wall bounding a side of the discharge opening normally closed by the gate, the elements being so shaped and welded together as to form between them a tube of triangular or other suitable cross-section extending horizontally along the side intermediate its vertical extremities and increasing the sides strength-to-weight ratio under the bending stresses to which it is subjected in service. In the illustrated embodiment the lower element of each side wall is an outwardly opening channel, the upper leg and part of the web of which fit inside an inwardly sloping lower leg of the upper element and on welding thereto form with the latter leg a cross-tube of triangular cross-section on whose upper surface the gate in closed position is adapted to be supported.

The foregoing and other objects and advantages of the invention will appear hereinafter in detailed description, be particularly pointed out in the appended claims and be illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE DESCRIPTION FIGURE 1 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view taken along lines 1-1 of FIGURE 2, showing a preferred embodiment of the improved gate frame of the present invention applied to a hopper and supporting a slide gate in closed position;

FIGURE 2 is a vertical sectional view taken along lines 22 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a plan view on an enlarged scale of the frame of FIGURES 1 and 2; and

FIGURE 4 is a vertical sectional view on a further enlarged scale taken along lines 4-4 of FIGURE 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Referring now in detail to the drawings in which like referenced characters designate like parts, the improved welded slide gate frame 1 of the present invention is 3,450,064 Patented June 17, 1969 designed to be welded or otherwise fixed to the bottom portion of an otherwise open-bottomed hopper 2 of a railway hopper car (not otherwise shown) for slidably mounting or supporting a slide gate 3 slidable, generally horizontally, between positions to open and close a downwardly opening discharge opening 4 in and bounded by the frame, through which any lading in the hopper is dischargeable by gravity. The gate 3 is initially applied and thereafter adapted to slide back and forth through a gate-receiving slot or opening 5 in or interrupting and extending horizontally across a front wall 6 of the frame 1 intermediate the walls vertical extremities. The gate 3 may be driven between open and closed positions by any suitable means, such as the indicated rack-and-pinion drive 7. i

As befits a conventional hopper 2, the improved frame 1 is and usually will be generally rectangular in crosssection with its sides formed by the front wall 6, side walls 8 and a 'rear wall 9. Each of these walls overlaps and is welded or otherwise fixed to a sheet 10 at a corresponding side of the hopper 2. When the gate 3 is closed, its weight and that of any lading in the hopper 2 above it are supported primarily on the side and rear Walls 8 and 9. The stresses from the load on these load supporting walls in the main are bending stresses and it is such stresses that the improved frame 1 is especially designed to resist by the construction now to be described.

In the preferred frame 1, the load-supporting side and rear walls 8 and 9 are all of the same construction, each being formed of an upper member or element 11 having its upper end portion fixed to the adjoining or corresponding hopper sheet 10 and a lower member or element 12 bounding a corresponding side of the discharge opening 4. The upper members 11 of these walls have their adjoining ends connected at rear corners of the frame, as do the lower members 12. The upper and lower members of the side walls 8 are connected at the front, respectively, by an upper member or element 13 and a lower member or element 14, which together form the front wall 6. The upper members 11 and 13 collectively form an upper part 15 and the lower members 12 and 14 a lower part 16 of the frame 1. As desired, either of the parts 15 and 16 may be cast as a unit, be formed as a weldment by using as the wall members of which it is comprised, structural members rolled to shape, or be of cast-weld construction, partly cast and the balance rolled.

However, the parts 15 and 16 are formed, the upper and lower members 11 and 12 of each of the load-supporting side and rear walls 8 and 9 vertically overlap and have their overlapping portions so shaped and welded together as to form between them a tube or pipe 17 extending along or longitudinally and preferably the full length of the wall intermediate its vertical extremities. Of triangular or other suitable cross-section and extending, generally horizontally, longitudinally or laterally, as appropriate, of the frame 1, each tube 17 so reinforces its wall against bending stresses imposed thereon in service by the vertical load of the gate 3 and any lading in the hopper 2 as to increase the walls strength-to-weight ratio and make possible a corresponding decrease in the weight of the frame 1 relative to a conventional frame. Specifically, a conventional frame made of identical metal and having the same general contour as the frame of the illustrated embodiment but lacking the tube 17, customarily has a Wall thickness of A", while the illustrated frame has adequate strength with a wall thickness of only In the illustrated embodiment, the frame has been applied to a hopper 2, all of whose side sheets 10 slope inwardly at the same angle. The upper member 11 of each of the load-supporting walls 8 and 9 is of general Z-shape, with upper and lower legs 18 and 19 relatively offset and sloping inwardly parallel to each other and the adjoining side sheet and connected by a substantially vertical intermediate or connecting leg 20. The lower member 12 of each wall 8 or 9 is of outwardly opening U- or channelshape, with a central vertical or vertically disposed web 21 and upper and lower legs or flanges 22 and 23, the former shorter than the latter, outstanding horizontally from the central web. The members 11 and 12 overlap both vertically and horizontally with the upper leg 22 and upper portion of the 'web 21 of the lower member fitting or seating inside of the lower leg 19 of the upper member and contact of these overlapping portions only between the ends of these upper and lower legs and the confronting or adjoining sides respectively of the lower leg and the web. It is at these points or, more precisely, along these lines of contact that the upper and lower members 11 and 12 are joined by a pair of vertically spaced, horizontally offset or spaced welds 24 to form the required horizontally extending tube 17, which in this case is of triangular cross-section.

In the illustrated embodiment the upper and lower members 13 and 14 of the front wall 6 conveniently are, respectively, an angle iron and an outwardly or forwardly facing channel iron, the former connecting and rigid with the upper members 11 of the side walls 8 and fixed to the adjoining or corresponding hopper sheet 10 and the latter connecting and rigid with the lower members 12 of the side walls and spaced below and defining with the angle iron the vertical limits of the gate opening 5. Ordinarily, the lower member 14 of the front wall 6 will be spaced below the slide gate 3 and play no part in its support, leaving that function to the side and rear walls 8 and 9. For performing that function the side and rear walls 8 and 9 present for engagement by the underside of the slide gate horizontally disposed shelves, which, in i the illustrated embodiment, conveniently are the upper legs or flanges 22 of the lower members 12. The gate rests or is supported on the shelves 22 in closed position and in sliding between open and closed positions slides on the shelves of the side walls 8, which, "with the usual extensions (not shown) beyond the front wall 6, then serve as guide or slide-ways for the gate.

When, as preferred, the lower part 16 of the frame 1 fits at the sides and rear inside the upper part and the portions of the upper and lower members 11 and 12 of each side or rear wall 8 or 9, which bound or form the tube 17 therein, overlap both vertically and horizontally, the construction is advantageous both after and during assembly. In assembly the upper part 15 will first be welded or otherwise fixed to the hopper sheet 10 and the lower part 16 then will be slid from the front into the upper part. At this juncture the upper part, because of the vertical and lateral overlap between the upper and lower members .11 and 12 of the side and rear wall, 8 and 9, will interfit or interlock with and suspend or support the lower part in the latters assembled position and enable the parts to be welded together without resort to a jig. After welding, the same overlap or interfit, by sharing the vertical loads with the welds 24, will decrease the shear stresses on the latter. In service the lower flanges of the lower members 12 and 14 not only reinforce those members but also serve as a mounting for attachment of a canvas or like boot (not shown), whenever the use of one is desired for more positively directing the lading during a discharge operation.

From the above-detailed description it will be apparent that there has been provided an improved frame for a railway car hopper slide gate whose load-supporting walls have inbuilt tubes for increasing their resistance to the bending stresses under vertical loads to which they are subjected in service. It should be understood that the described and disclosed embodiment is merely exemplary of the invention and that all modifications that are intended to be included but do not depart from the spirit of the invention and the appended claims.

Having described our invention, we claim:

1. A welded frame for a slide gate adapted to open and close a bottom discharge opening of a railway car hopper comprising wall means fixed to a bottom portion of the hopper and laterally bounding the discharge opening, said wall means including an upper member fixed to and depending from the hopper, a lower member having an upper portion vertically overlapping a lower portion of said upper member, said overlapping portions together forming a reinforcing tube extending longitudinally along said members, and spaced welds at opposite sides of said tube and connecting adjoining extremities of said overlapping portions.

2. A welded frame according to claim 1, wherein the wall means include a plurality of load-supporting walls each at a side of the opening, and each of said walls includes one of each of the upper and lower members.

3. A welded frame according to claim 2, wherein the overlapping portions of the members of each load-supporting Wall are also horizontally overlapping, and the upper portion of the lower member is inside the lower portion of the upper member and presents for engagement by an underside of the gate a horizontally disposed shelf upwardly bounding the reinforcing tube formed by the portions.

4. A welded frame according to claim 3, wherein the load-supporting walls are side and rear walls of the frame, the lower member of each wall is an outwardly opening channel member having as the upper overlapping portion thereof an upper horizontally disposed flange forming the shelf and an adjoining part of a vertically disposed web, and the lower overlapping portion of the upper member of each wall is inwardly sloping and extends diagonally between and is connected by the welds to an outer end of said upper flange and outer side of said web of the related lower member, and the reinforcing tube is of triangular cross-section.

5. A welded frame according to claim 4, wherein the upper members of the side and rear walls form with an upper member of a front wall an upper part and the lower members of the side and rear walls form with a lower member of said front wall a lower part of the frame, and the overlapping portions of the members of the side and rear walls during assembly support said lower part in position for applying the welds therebetween.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,082,706 3/1963 Dorey -282 3,130,687 4/1964 Smith 105-282 3,255,714 6/1966 Dorey 105282 X ARTHUR L. LA POINT, Primary Examiner. HOWARD BELTRAN, Assistant Examiner.

U.S. Cl. X.R. 105-424 

